AN: Am I the only one affected by the stupid planets? We're just coming out of Mercury in Retrograde, so I couldn't help myself with this one...

Mercury in Retrograde

The universe is a strange thing.

The planets somehow seem to have minds of their own - no matter what the consequences to those hailing from said satellites. Not even normally intelligent well-grounded Mercurian senshi.

Venus has the calendar marked so that her fellow warriors know to... How does she phrase it? Yes, 'be gentle' with Mercury during these times of the year. The last period was so intense that the leader of the inner senshi had to send their normally shy sister home to cool her heels in Mariner Castle. After a particularly intense dust-up with the delegation from Earth, in which water was unceremoniously projected onto the youngest of the Shitennou, causing his garments to become more or less saturated, and an embarrassed Mercury to run crying from the room.

Mars has her input as well, and, as the years pass, they find patterns. With the dates on the calendar, the Moon Princess is not in more or less danger, per se, but the senshi plan training retreats, or times of study and contemplation. As per the Martian, no contracts are signed within the Lunar alliance, until the planet of Mercury begins its trend to spin in the right direction. Venus, erring on the side of caution, also halts any travel for Princess Serenity. Whether or not others in the alliance ever make the connection between the movements in retrograde, she does not care.

"How are you?" The Jovian senshi asks, towards the end of the period.

"I don't know. I hate feeling…" Mercury cannot come up with the correct words.

"Not yourself?"

"Yes, after all, none of the rest of you are so impacted!"

"The rest of us do not hail from such a small planet spinning so quickly next to the sun," Jupiter answers gently.

"Why are you here?" grumbles Mercury.

"It seems you have, ah, forgotten to send through a rather imperative report that you promised the Queen."

The blue-haired senshi lets lose an unexpected expletive, causing the tall brunette to raise her eyebrows, and run a nervous hand through her ponytail. Mercury looks up from her computations and asks, "Why you? Draw the short straw?"

That is the exact truth of the matter, but Jupiter puts a hand on her friend's shoulder and answers, "Of course not."

"Why doesn't Venus just cut me? I'm absolutely useless."

"You are an integral part of this team."

"I make us weak."

"We don't see it that way."

"How do you see it? How could you possibly see the situation?"

"Each planet comes with its own challenge. Yours just happens to be…"

"The worst?"

Jupiter chuckles softly. "Chin up, it's just a few more days."

AN: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯